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“How do you know?” Rage asks.
“The numbers didn’t drop down until I pulled out my kit and approached it. I wouldn’t be surprised if we tripped a silent alarm of some sort when we entered the building, which started the countdown on the bomb. I must have been wrong about the cameras being on a closed circuit.” Ace exclaims.
“But why let us walk out? If he could make the bomb go off at any time, then why not just let you try and mess with it and then set it off, getting rid of us?” Rafe asks.
“Dramatic effect? Maybe arrogance, just because he can and he wants us to know that he can?” Ace suggests.
“He’s playing with us,” Rip frowns, crossing his tattooed arms over his chest.
“Yes, he is,” Ace agrees.
“Fuck,” I reply eloquently. I really don’t like how smart this guy appears to be.
“Can you tell us anything about the bomb?” Trick asks, “I know you didn’t see it for very long or even much of it, but anything will help at the moment.”
“I can, but I suggest we get out of here now and I’ll call you from the car, that was a big fucking explosion and the emergency services are going to be here any fucking minute,” Ace says, urgency running through his tone.
“Fuck, yeah, okay. Is the car alright to drive?” Cash asks suddenly, and we all move to the other side of the car to check it out.
“Well, it will drive, but we may never get the paintwork back to what it was,” Jensen grimaces slightly.
“Everyone get in. Rome, call me from the car, I want to know you're back safe and that you aren’t being followed,” Trick orders as everyone does what they’re told, urgency riding us hard now.
It’s a tense few minutes while we drive away from the smouldering building in the opposite direction of the town that we originally came through. We’re going to have to go around it so that we don't draw any extra attention to ourselves.
We can’t risk going through the town, with our car damaged, it would throw far too much suspicion our way and although Mr R will deal with it and we wouldn’t actually be held regardless of how much evidence they have against us, it’s not something that we want to deal with now and more than that it will create a delay that we can’t afford right now.
While driving, I take a minute to look over everyone, making sure they’re all okay, and I pay particular attention to Cash, Trick, and Jensen.
“Is everyone okay?” I ask, just to make sure.
“Yeah, I think so,” Atlas replies, doing the same as me and looking everyone over.
Luc narrows his eyes on the already injured three, “What about you three?”
“I’m good. I was still down when it went off,” Trick replies.
“Me too,” Cash replies.
“My hand is a bit painful,” Jensen replies, “but I don’t think I did any more damage; I just knocked it.”
Luc nods, “I’ll have a proper look when we get home.”
“Thanks, man,” Jensen smiles.
It takes a further five minutes, and a long five minutes at that, before we all start to relax slightly, and Rome calls us from the other car.
“Are you guys safe?” He asks immediately.
“Yeah, we’re all good, are you guys?” Trick asks although it seems to be a moot point since they’re calling us and asking if we’re okay in the first place.
“We’re good, I don’t think we’re that far behind you,” Rip replies.
“Good, I really don’t want to be dealing with normal law enforcement and their egos when they realise we’ve got higher clearance than they do. They never take it very well,” Atlas replies.
“Also, we haven’t technically got clearance,” Jynx points out.
“Or fancy badges that we can flash,” Ace adds. “Although, if I got a good enough look at yours, I probably could replicate them well enough.”